Bayer CropScience has been formed through the merger of Bayer’s Crop Protection Business Group with Aventis CropScience SA.
Operations for the new worldwide company will start today.
The crop-protection industry’s new No. 2 company is being given a green light following an examination by antitrust authorities.
“Bayer CropScience will be one of the pillars of the reorganized Bayer Group,” commented Bayer Management Board Chairman Werner Wenning.
The company will capitalize on its strengths as a leading company in crop protection, the seed business and biotechnology as well as in non-agricultural pest control.
The closing came today for the EUR 7.25 billion deal.
Bayer CropScience is now No. 1 in insecticides, No. 3 in herbicides, and No. 2 in fungicides.
There are two additional business groups: Environmental Science, which combines professional pest control with the home and garden business, and BioScience, which comprises the seed and biotechnology businesses.
The first decisions regarding corporate locations have been made. The managerial staff has been selected with the aid of external consultants.
One-time integration charges are expected to total EUR 500 million, while Bayer is aiming for an annual savings through synergies of about the same amount, which it is hoped will be realized by 2005.